Interesting and Inspiring

   It's raining determinedly right now which belies yesterdays beautiful sunshine. I was up with the horses yesterday morning and it was so warm it felt like the middle of summer, but then I was doing allot of running around with my four legged friends!

Lady Grey and her old paddock mate whom she is decidedly cool towards.

She has put on allot of weight on this lovely grass! 

Tigger was very boring I don't think he likes the camera!

   Well here is what has interested and inspired me this week:

 I found out about this equine artist, Emma Kennaway (interview), in the weekend and was inspired by her stunning artwork of horses especially her huge drawings.  She has given me new inspiration for horses as a subject and I have begun to think of new ways of making an old subject interesting. Perhaps it is because she is not a 'horsey' person that her drawings of them are so original, she is able to think outside the box with a new perspective on horses. I have always been faced with the challenge of originality when drawing or painting horses, and do not always meet it successfully! Here is another video of her explaining her pictures before her exhibition.

   As an artist and ever since I read the book Drawing on the Right side of the Brain by Betty Edwards (I not in passing that it is a must read for anyone who wants to or dose draw) I have always been interested about the way people see things, and what we notice and do not notice. I read this blog post a little while ago which talked of an interesting study about inattentional blindness. How we don't notice things if we aren't looking for them which explains why artists see different things in the same subject than a non artist because we look for different things.

    Now here is a short video I made this week. 

  What do you think? I was quite excited when I came up with the idea and have searched in vain on YouTube for video's like it. I think I might enlarge upon the idea! That waltz is my favorite piece of music at the moment.

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  Now here is something I didn't do. This brilliant artist draws wonderful portraits. His videos are so inspiring.

 Video Link Wet Portrait

My exciting Monday Mornings, among other things.

  I always start my week of with a bang. I seem to have the most energy and focus on a Monday morning than any other morning, which dose not quite agree with the generally accepted rule! I always begin my most ambitious painting and do the most amount of work on a Monday. Tuesdays are pretty good too, then Wednesdays I begin to lag and usually it goes down hill from there until on the weekends I hardly get anything done painting wise. And then Monday comes round again and I begin with a new spurt of determination and drive.

   I read this short article about weeding gardens yesterday and it has some relevance to this topic. My weeds grow very quickly and are choking me up by the end of the week. From now on I intend to a little weeding every day. It really dose work, chipping away at the old block has to produce some effect eventually. I have always had a time of it trying to get myself motivated to do more paintings and pictures and not just wait for those moments of inspiration. And I have noticed lately that I have come along way for I am working on some picture every day, and even in the weekends I at least to a few sketches! Mum is always saying that good writing (for she is a writer) is %10 inspiration and %90 perspiration and this applies perfectly to the artist, dose it not? Combine this with the saying 'the more you work the stronger you get' and pretty soon inspiration will be a more frequent visitor. It was quite a happy discovery for me!

 Well, I've begun my Wednesday morning with a blog post, that's a good start, now I'm off to finish a painting. I'm videoing it so there will be speed painting video coming your way soon. :) And don't forget to subscribe to my new monthly newsletter! See right to submit your email.

  A small sketch I did in my small A5 sketchbook last month. This is pretty much actual size.

 

New Horse Drawing in Charcoal

  In case you are wondering I really am alive and kicking down here. In fact I'm beginning to kick harder than usual. I suddenly realized it is less than twelve weeks until the spring A&P Show at which I plan to have an art stall so I had better get cracking and make a heap more serious pictures.

   So I have been doing that, and have made a very full schedule for myself with a goal for the amount of art I wish to produce each week. I have begun well this week and this is what I worked on yesterday.

  The proportions aren't the best I know, but I was trying out a new technique for me with charcoal. It is very fun as I discovered so I plan to create a whole series of charcoal horses. I have done two more today, however I don't know how I can take photos of them for awhile as all the camera batteries have been taken by Dad and my brother for their model boats! I stole my other brothers camera for this one, and I should be able to borrow it again. I might even be able to make some drawing videos with it.